Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Again with the broad brush strokes. Why do you assume all liberals are exactly the same? You should know not to do that because you DO have more book learning than me. (you're a doctor, right?). I never say "EVERY Republican ....." and EVERY Tea partier....." because I know some don't fit the mold. But your posts prove conservatives' point that book learning doesn't guarantee wisdom.
I do consider myself intelligent, and proud of my good education, but I said in my previous post that I don't look down on those with less education (My parents and grandparents never went to college. I respect them greatly)-but I look down only on those who are stupidly proud of it, as if that makes them better than us--the ones who are educated. Never said they are a mindless herd either, but throughout history, the weaker members of society have always been exploited by the strong, so yes, I do advocate government protections of middle and working class people against others. I don't mean to be condescending when I say that, but history has proven me right.
So says this corn fed, white, male, midwestern, Christian liberal. Yes, people like me do exist, and I don't fit into your neat little black and white perception of "liberals". I have never been to New England or NYC. I do not have dinner parties with well connected people. I'm just an American trying to make his way in the heartland. Hopefully you won't self destruct after this post.
Have a nice evening.
I am picking pieces of my brain off the screen at this very moment.
Yes, yes, the Editor of the Harvard Law Review has done such a bang up job, we are sure to have no problems if we simply elected more Ivy educated folks. But you know, we proles are just dumb old boys. If we were simply smart enough to recognize how dumb we are all would be right with the world.
A good American always sees a red flag in a college degree, ten red flags in a degree from Ivy League.
But I hope you understand, I'm on your side. I honestly want America to have a leader that has only a high school education.
I don't know exactly where I fit into this hate-fest, but I can tell you that I went to an Ivy league school, served in the infantry in Vietnam, do not follow any organized religion, supported Jimmy Carter, was puzzled by the worship of Ronald Reagain, worked on Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign, voted for John McCain out of respect for his service, but felt real joy for the country when it elected Obama our first black President, supported Mr. Obama for the first part of his administration, but now feel that he is a brainy, politically astute man who unfortunately is incompetent as a chief executive and needs to be replaced.
Does that make me stupid, a la Ms. Dowd? Or just part of our vast, diverse electorate which she and the rest of the coastal chattering classes hold in such contempt while knowing so little about us?
Yeah, I agree. I also believe it is their sense of intellectual superiority that makes them envious of achievers. They really believe they are smarter than the next guy, if the next guy has more material success that they do, they believe something must be wrong. They want to punish those who have more than they do in order to correct what they see as in injustice. This can be seen in their obsession to increase taxes on the wealthy.
It must have been a less-educated envious underachiever who said this, then:
“Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to
exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher
portions of property in geometric progression as they rise”
shorebaby"His father, on the other hand, was and presented himself as, you suggest and he won the nomination twice. Kinda blows a hole in your argument, doesn't it?"
DUH, shorebaby, due to his obvious intellect, 41 could NOT win in TP GOPland. He won pre TP GOP land, when education was not a liability. I wish we could return to that era. Truthfully, both parties chose better behind closed doors than the results we have been getting throughout all the primaries.
It must have been a less-educated envious underachiever who said this, then:
“Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to
exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher
portions of property in geometric progression as they rise”
Thomas Jefferson
Ah, but more sophistry. Of course one can be for a progressive tax and not be envious. Clearly Jefferson being a very wealthy man cannot be accused of envy. But alas, most of those wishing to confiscate the wealth of others are not wealthy.
"When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic" Ben Franklin
shorebaby"His father, on the other hand, was and presented himself as, you suggest and he won the nomination twice. Kinda blows a hole in your argument, doesn't it?"
DUH, shorebaby, due to his obvious intellect, 41 could NOT win in TP GOPland. He won pre TP GOP land, when education was not a liability. I wish we could return to that era. Truthfully, both parties chose better behind closed doors than the results we have been getting throughout all the primaries.
Again you are proving just the opposite of what you intend. It is pure silliness to suggest the Republican party doesn't want highly educated candidates. The fact is we put a premium on results. The left was hoodwinked by pedigree with the current occupant of the White House. You would think they would have learned a lesson and given more thought to results rather than a beauty contest. Fortunately the American people are likely to be impressed by a candidates actual achievements, than their Junior Year English lit grade.
Baloney, shorebaby, the redneck, backwards, uneducated segment of the GOP who represent a disproportinate portion of the primary voting flock, are catered to lock, stock, and barrel..hence the phony "I'm an everyman routine from all of the GOP candidates". That mentality disses education, and truthfully, is self-defeating, hence the high un/under-employment in good and bad economies in rural Amwerica.
To be frank, this group, sans Romney, have FEW accomplishments. Most county clerks have more power than a Texas gov (due to their absurd structure), no one who was part of DC amongst the GOP gang has much of a record as anything but a follower, Romney is the only one who exercised actual government executive power.
"By the end of Ronald Reagan's presidential administration, Christian Right organizations were generally in a phase of decline. After Reagan’s two terms in office, donations were decreasing, possibly because after eight years of Christian Right-supported leadership, the nation did not appear to donators to be in the same state of moral peril as they perceived it to be when Reagan first took office.[12] The Moral Majority’s financial base seriously eroded when it became part of the Liberty Federation and financial difficulties ultimately were a major factor in the decision to disband the organization.[13] Falwell, though, gave a more optimistic public opinion about the Moral Majority’s dissolution. Announcing the disbandment of the Moral Majority in 1989 in Las Vegas, Falwell declared, “Our goal has been achieved…The religious right is solidly in place and…religious conservatives in America are now in for the duration.”[14]"
So you think the religious right wasn't a factor in the 2000 and 2004 elections?
I read that first thing this AM. Notice she didn't DARE include Ron Paul in that bunch.
To be fair she should do one on dumb presidents and feature GW bush and Obama. After all, bumper stickers have already been done on them -- mug shots with "Dumb and Dumber" on the sticker.
Maureen Dowd has criticized Obama numerous times. She's been one of his harshest liberal critics. Look through some of her columns if you're interested for proof. And I don't think she should call Ron Paul stupid. The man has clearly thought out his views and is his own person. He is philosophically a libertarian. That's why I respect the man, even though I disagree with much of what he says.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthGAbound12
Rick Perry's smart enough but I don't think he's a genius. His problem isn't his intelligence, it's his intentional playing the "average common man" to appease a base that looks down on education. Then there's Bachmann and Palin who, despite indignant protestations from right wing, are both a few fries short of a happy meal. Yet they are elevated to the level of Right Wing Hero, specifically because they are "average joes."
The right wing's fascination with "average joes" is disturbing. The right wing loves to elevate the "common man" with "wisdom" above those with actual educations. The right wing takes average and ordinary and makes it into something superior to education. I don't believe an Ivy League education automatically bestows leadership ability on someone. There's also nothing wrong being an average joe, hell I am. However I don't pick my leaders based on who I want to have a beer with. The drive, motivation, and smarts it takes to graduate from an Ivy League school tells me something about a person, it may not make them automatically qualified for leadership but they're off to a good start.
It's not about education, it's about a culture and mindset that believes that you should pick your leaders based on who you want to have a beer with. Coming from a good family and having an Ivy League education should be assets. Yet Bush II found it something to overcome. He was out there on the stump in his blue collar shirt, sleeves rolled up speaking all 'Murrican and folksy, pretending to be a regular dude. Then we have Perry, Palin, Bachmann who all purposely project themselves as cowboys or coal miners because they have to. They can't support evolution, science or reason, they must embrace emotion, ignorance, and plainness.
I can't rep you again, but great post.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shorebaby
Ah, no. Aren't we told by the left that anything short of any Ive League education makes one unworthy of consiedration for public office. Of course it is the view of the left that anything short of an Ivy League education makes one something like the cable guy.
See, I don't think that's correct. I see that the left thinks education is more important in a leader than a Republican. It just happens that most prominent left wingers are from the coasts, which happen to have most of the elite universities. If Dems were more prominent in the South, you'd see them hail from Chapel Hill, UVA and Georgia Tech. A Republican (mostly) thinks that if you can have a beer with the guy, then he must be good enough to be president. Of course there are intellectual conservatives, but nobody listens to them anyway, so they're not important to the movement. The real drivers are the Rick Perrys, Sarah Palins and that ilk. And the current crop of GOP candidates strikes me as so bad in this regard, that I actually am starting to miss George W. Now that I just said that, I think i need to wash my mouth out.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
